FBReader running on OLPC laptop. Epub books soon for One Laptop per Child kids—and public libraries interested in laptop?
Update, 1:36 p.m.: FBReader installation instructions for Linux geeks now appear at the end of this post. In fact, some patient and careful newbies might also succeed. - D.R.
We’re a little closer to e-book nirvana. FBReader, which in most incarnations can read .epub, the new standard e-book format from the IDPF, is now running on the OLPC laptop.
In case you’re tuning in late, that’s the machine with an extra-sharp screen and the ability to let you fold it into a tablet—-the green gizmo that made the 60 Minutes TV newsmagazine and may eventually sell for just $100.
Big thanks to Bennett Todd, who just posted a message on an OLPC software development list. Rupka, another list member, is ecstatic. And Ian Daniher is also encouraging.
Now to see FBReader with the child-optimized Sugar interface, once that’s worked out! Oh, the glories of open source!
The OLPC laptop is for international use, and suddenly educational publishers, if not fixated on DRM, have a huge new potential market even though many countries will prefer to use locally originated material.
Just as significantly, with FBReader available, the OLPC laptop will be a more promising machine for public libraries. Having been burned by the Gemstar and other machines with e-book formats that vanished from the mainstream, librarians should seriously consider trying out OLPC’s XO. It doesn’t come with all the gotchas that the Amazon Kindle does, including a terms of service agreement that might prevent libraries from lending the machines to patrons.
Frustration department: For two days now, OLPC’s warehouse folks have told me my laptop would be shipping almost immediately. But so far it hasn’t shown up in the FedEx tracking system, sob, sob.
Oh, well, I’ve got a lot to forward to. As noted before in the TeleBlog, I’ve waited years for a machine like this. A few more days won’t kill me.
Details: First picture shows the OLPC laptop running a reading program other than FBReader. Second shot is of FBReader’s Windows version set up for narrow-column use, which some kids with reading problems might prefer. FBReader allows precise control of typography. I hope that even the Sugarized version will retain the software’s flexibility. Another detail is that FBReader can’t use .epub’s CSS capabilities. But I’d be surprised if it didn’t have them in time.
Thanks to Wayan Vota of the unofficial but oh-so-informative OLPC News—interviewed on 60 Minutes’ OLPC segment, by the way—for the link.
Update: Bennett kindly shared with me his instructions for Linux fans. Less adventurous novices might want to wait for the Sugarized version of FBReader. Use Ctrl-Alt-F2 (F2 is the Friends key) to reach the command line. Go here to see what these keys look like on the XO keyboard. A further update: Yes, FBReader will do .epub on the XO (thanks to Alan Wallcraft for this info). Okay, Bennett’s instructions follow:
At the moment, this is for Linux geeks; you have to be comfortable becoming root to install an application, and using non-Sugar, X11 graphics controls to adjust the configuration. I don’t know if anyone is going to Sugar-ize this. I’ve not yet explored how much of the customization I can pre-do in an OLPC XO-specific varient distro of FBReader. Please note that I’m neither an FBReader developer nor (yet) a Sugar developer, I’m just a very happy recipient of a give-1-get-1 as a christmas present from my wife. FBReader loads novels plenty quickly enough for me, and does page turns fast enough that it doesn’t bother me. Noticable but brief delay. I don’t use epub, I’ve been reading ebooks for many, many years on a series of palmos gizmos, mostly with weasel reader (nee gutenpalm) so in zTXT. I just moved my library from my Treo to the XO. SD cards work in both.
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Bring up the Terminal app. Install FBReader:
su -c ‘rpm -i http://mirrors.kernel.org/fedora/updates/7/i386/fbreader-0.8.8-2.fc7.i386.rpm’
[One line with a space between the -i and the http. - D.R.]
Start it up by typing “FBReader”. There’s a little tool icon, third from the right on the top. Use that to dial the font size down, pump up the inter-line spacing, maybe add a bit to the margins. Note the place it wants to look for books. Put some books there; either download ‘em with wget on the OLPC, or download ‘em somewhere else and move ‘em with a USB stick or SD card. “Enter” toggles the FBReader app to full-screen. Use FBReader’s control to rotate it 90 degrees if you want to swivel the XO into tablet mode. Use the “Keys” part of the config tool to tell FBReader to use a couple of the game-pad keys for “Large Scroll Down” (AKA page down) and up.
A suggestion: Especially since I lack access to an XO, I hope people won’t hesitate to point out possible omissions or errors in the information from me—my goofs, not any else’s. Later I may revisit this material and do everything in a nice, easy step-by-step way that will be more useful for novices.
Related, from the TeleBlog: FBReader: Ten easy tips for e-book users who want to switch to a Linux handheld. The installation tips won’t apply. But my hunch is that most of the other tips will. As for the XO, new owners might enjoy an IBM storage consultant’s first impressions and tips.
December 28th, 2007 at 12:19 pm
Unfortunately, the instructions aren’t on the wiki yet, just the news that it works for one user. Even for those of us who have figured out how to use the linux terminal mode, we’ll need some help installing it unless (until) it’s Sugarized.
December 28th, 2007 at 12:43 pm
Not to worry, Sherman. The people on the list have indicated an interest in the stuff going on the wiki, and beyond that I can think of one place where the info would be most appreciated–the TeleBlog. I’ll write Bennett Todd and encourage him to work toward Sugarization. Happy holidays. David
December 28th, 2007 at 5:33 pm
Buttons on OLPC display don’t don’t move back or forward on the web browser. (But they do allow you to scroll up and down). I’d like to know which buttons on the OLPC display correspond to the FBReader buttons and make sure they are mapped correctly. People using FBREADer will be using it in tablet mode, not laptop mode.
December 28th, 2007 at 6:05 pm
I wish the directions did go in the wiki or forums at OLPCNews, since I have an error but don’t want to clog comments with that.
December 28th, 2007 at 9:00 pm
One of the nice things about FBReader is its out of the box customization capability. For hardware keys, all you should need to do is navigate to the keys tab of the options (crossed-tools) icon. If you then press any key, FBReader will tell you which key it is (probably as far as GTK+ is concerned) and which action is bound to it. There is a long list of alternative actions if you don’t like the default. You may need to set the key bindings in laptop mode, but it should be possible to use FBReader in tablet mode once the keys are setup correctly.
December 29th, 2007 at 1:24 pm
Hi, Sherman. FBReader is dear to my heart. Don’t be shy about writing up the error. Maybe someone here—for example, Allan Wallcraft—can offer a solution. I have an XO on its way to me, so I, of all people, have an interest in the details. Happy holidays. David
December 31st, 2007 at 12:16 am
I tried this too, but had no luck. I am decidedly not a ‘linux geek’ (although other kinds might be appropriate).
I just get the error: skipping http://mirrors.kernal.org/fedora/updates/7/i386/fbreader-0.8.8-2.fc7.i386.rpm - transfer failed - unknown or unexpected error.
Having played with this since a few days before Christmas, there is a lot that I can’t figure out, and reading ebooks - except through the ‘browse’ app - is one of them. I know that this machine is supposed to be great for reading ebooks, but so far, it’s not intuitive how to do it!
December 31st, 2007 at 12:59 am
Fran, Sherman and Alan W.:
F: Thanks–I’ll point Bennett to the latest in this thread.
S: Are you getting the same error messages as Fran did?
A: Got any suggestions? Getting FBReader going on the OLPC’s XO machine is a top priority for me. Mine’s due to arrive Wednesday.
Happy holidays,
David
January 1st, 2008 at 7:07 pm
Here’s the latest, in case anyone didn’t see it. My XO arrives tomorrow, and guess which program I’ll be keen on trying in the next day or so. Fingers crossed. Meanwhile I’m curious if Bennett’s solution worked for Sherman and Fran. David
January 5th, 2008 at 11:45 am
David: Yes, I had the same thing, but I solved it by tricking the XO into believing it was a Fedora core machine.
$ su
# yum update fbreader
It’s downloading right now, and we’ll see what happens…
January 5th, 2008 at 11:46 am
Ah, shoot, didn’t work.
January 5th, 2008 at 11:58 am
I tried using http://dag.wieers.com/rpm/packages/fbreader/fbreader-0.8.9-1.el5.rf.i386.rpm and I still get the “transfer failed - Unknown or unexpected error
“warning: u 0×807d358 ctrl 0×807d988 nrefs != 0 (dag.wieers.com http)
January 5th, 2008 at 12:05 pm
Sherman, if need be, call me at 703-370-6540 in Alexandria, VA, tomorrow or next week, and I’ll walk you through the process. The main difference from last time is that I used the OLPC Terminal (available via Activities) rather than another approach.
See if your XO has Terminal (to reach the command prompt), and look in the FAQs if it doesn’t. I also took care about the FBReader command since case matters in linux).
Don’t mess with Yum for now. Just follow Bennett’s directions exactly. Keep us posted. Same for others with problems.
I want TeleRead’s FBReader documentation to be as clear as possible. Both .epub and the OLPC project are dear to me, despite the flaws of both, and questions like yours are NOT clutter.
Thanks,
David
January 5th, 2008 at 12:49 pm
Found the issue: don’t try su -c. Go into superuser mode and then just type rpm - [source url]
January 22nd, 2008 at 4:06 pm
Hi guys,
Anyone have new instructions for installing FBReader?
Looks like all the versions/packages linked to both in the original post, the comments, and the post in the olpc news forums point to dead links?
January 23rd, 2008 at 1:37 am
Thanks for the note about FBReader. After installing it I found that there is a line spacing bug that made the lines appear to close. I decided to investigate the bug and found the reason, and it was that FBReader was not dealing properly with the high 200dpi screen resolution of the OLPC. I submitted a bug report at:
http://www.fbreader.org/mantis/view.php?id=76
If there is any interest, I can provide the fixed version at my web site, until a new version of FBReader is released.
January 23rd, 2008 at 4:12 am
Doug and Dov: Thanks, both of you. Really appreciated the info that the link was obsolete. See my just-posted update. Doug, please confirm that this worked for you. Thanks. David
Addendum: Do provide the update. Will link to it! Thanks.
January 28th, 2008 at 9:51 pm
I fought with installing FBReader for a couple of days, and in the processes killed my XO. I restored the OS using the “Activated Upgrade” instructions here. I finally got FBReader installed using the instructions and file on Dov’s page. Works like a champ, now!
I haven’t figured out how to save my settings, though, which is making things a bit tricky. Still working on it though, and I’m happy to see that FBReader reads the plucker files from my old Palm device nicely.
February 1st, 2008 at 1:49 am
UPDATE: I got FBReader to remember my settings by mapping Ctrl-X to Quit in the key bindings. It’s working very nicely now.
July 5th, 2008 at 7:04 pm
On OLPC Build 703 (the current stable build, as of this writing), the process is trivial: first ’su’, then ‘yum install fbreader’. The only oddity is that the actual binary name is capitalized: ‘FBReader’.